COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE ROUNDUP: Just three games in the top division are being contested during round four, but there was no shortage of action on the opening day
Trent Bridge (day one of four): Sussex 169, Nottinghamshire 164-3 - Nottinghamshire are five runs behind with seven first-innings wickets remaining
England's Josh Tongue picked up a second consecutive five-wicket haul at Trent Bridge as Nottinghamshire dismissed Sussex for 169 before closing on 164 for 3 after the opening day of their County Championship clash.
The two counties began the day sharing the early Division One lead but the home side have the upper hand so far after Tongue, in only his third match for Nottinghamshire after a 2024 season wrecked by injury, finished with 5 for 44 to go with his second-innings five for 66 against Durham on his county debut.
Tongue generated some rapid pace and was well backed up by Brett Hutton, who continued his early-season form with four for 53 after Oli Carter top scored for Sussex with 46.
Nottinghamshire lost England's Ben Duckett cheaply, but another man-in-form, their captain, Haseeb Hameed, closed unbeaten on 67, having scored 297 runs for once out in his last three innings.
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Haseeb Hameed's impressive start to the season continued at Trent Bridge (Getty Images)
Kia Oval (day one of four): Somerset 283, Surrey
Somerset fought back to edge an absorbing first day against Surrey's high-class seam attack on day one at the Kia Oval.
Tom Lammonby made 76 but from 146 for 2, Somerset fell to 187 for seven before skipper Lewis Gregory led a fightback by their tail with 62 as 96 were added for the last three wickets. Gregory was caught in the deep in the final over with Somerset dismissed for 283. The excellent Jordan Clark picked up five for 68.
Such was the consistency of the bowling, before a partnership of 62 for the eighth wicket between Gregory and Josh Davey, only 12 boundaries had been scored, 11 of them in a stand of 98 between Lammonby and Archie Vaughan, who shaped up well for his 36.
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Jordan Clark upstaged his England-capped Surrey teammates (Getty Images)
New Road (day one of four): Worcestershire 162, Durham 55-4 - Durham are 107 runs behind with six first-innings wickets remaining
Somerset loanee Jake Ball took five wickets on his Durham debut to help his new team take the early honours in their County Championship match at Visit Worcestershire New Road. But Brett D’Oliveira's bowlers struck back on a day when 14 wickets fell in the Division One clash.
Ball took 5 for 47 as Worcestershire were dismissed for 162, thereby failing to collect a batting bonus point for the fourth successive match this season.
However, having seen their bowlers make the most of winning the toss on a helpful pitch, Durham's batsmen encountered their own problems in the evening session, and the day ended with the visitors on 55 for 4 and the match evenly poised.
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